‘The Legend of Korra’ Season 3 Trailer: Change is Coming

Last week, The Legend of Korra co-creator Michael Dante DiMartino announced on his Tumblr that the final sound mix for the show’s third season, Book 3: Change, was finished. Only a few days later, several episodes of the new season were leaked by Nickelodeon’s Spanish-language affiliate in Mexico — both DiMartino and fellow co-creator Bryan Konietzko responded to the leak on Tumblr — which were circulated by fans around the web and used to create a trailer, albeit fan-made, for The Legend of Korra season 3.

Following on the heels of the convincingly-real fan trailer that has since been taken down from YouTube, Nickelodeon released an official trailer for Book 3 – teasing new characters and new locations as well as some surprisingly familiar faces. Although the official trailer for Book 3 clocks in at about two-minutes long, without any dialogue whatsoever, it provides more than enough footage to whet the appetite of fans and keep them guessing, theorizing, and anticipating a season that doesn’t even have a release date yet.

Among the returning characters are, of course, Team Avatar — consisting of Korra, Asami, Mako, and Bolin — as well as Tenzin, his family, and Lin Beifong. The most surprising returning character to make an appearance though, is the well-known scarred face of Zuko, the prince of the Fire Nation and main character in Avatar: The Last Airbender.

In addition to these familiar faces, there are plenty of new characters in the trailer including two who are prominently featured: a young airbender boy and a woman with similar facial markings to the assassin from Avatar: The Last Airbender known as Combustion Man (or Sparky Sparky Boom Man to some) — though she uses her hands to firebend rather than her forehead.

But, it wouldn’t be a Legend of Korra trailer without new action sequences — although how they’ll live up to those in Book 2’s finale is hard to believe — as well as new locations. The show has wholly exited the spirit world and seems to be exploring lands outside of Republic City and the South Pole. At least three unrecognizable cities were teased in the trailer: one in a desert, one in a green valley, and one that could be Ba Sing Se or another Earth Kingdom city that may or may not have been introduced in Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Though very little about the plot of Book 3 can be gleaned from this trailer, we can at least assume Korra and the rest of Team Avatar will be given a task that takes them on an adventure all around the world given the these new locales.

In past seasons, The Legend of Korra has often dealt with political turmoil within the world: Book 1 focused on the struggle between benders and non-benders in Republic City while Book 2 concentrated on the long-standing tension between the Northern and Southern Water Tribes. Perhaps Book 3 will tackle more extensive and international political strife – one that requires the aid of Zuko.

Whether or not the story of Book 3 follows in the political conflict vein, the season is bound to be action packed and as exciting, if not more so, as Book 1 and Book 2. Creator DiMartino, when he announced the sound mix had been finished, even called it the best season of The Legend of Korra yet.

Stay tuned to Screen Rant for updates on The Legend of Korra Book 3: Change, including an official premiere date.